SPIRITUAL LIFE: Few things are as awesome as the Resurrection

Nowadays, “awesome” is used to describe things as mundane as a good hamburger. Yet awesome is supposed to convey extraordinary wonder tinged with fear at events, for example, a volcanic eruption or a tsunami. Jesus awakening from the dead is in that league. Yet many say, “that was awesome!” more often about Easter dinner than the Resurrection.

Nowadays, “awesome” is used to describe things as mundane as a good hamburger. Yet awesome is supposed to convey extraordinary wonder tinged with fear at events, for example, a volcanic eruption or a tsunami. Jesus awakening from the dead is in that league. Yet many say, “that was awesome!” more often about Easter dinner than the Resurrection.

In 200 countries, there are 2.18 billion Christians. That’s nearly one-third of the world’s total population of 6.9 billion, and the Resurrection is Christianity’s most sacred belief. I wonder how many feel as jaded about it as I once did.

Christ rose from the dead. Jesus triumphed over death. God’s son came back to life. I heard this from the time I was seven years old, too young to understand that no one else in history, ever, had achieved this physical impossibility. The Resurrection was just a pretty card in my young mind, steeped in white clouds and lavender skies, or a sermon to be endured until the egg hunt.

What should have been mind-boggling was monotonous, and for years I took this belief for granted because of a lack of understanding.

Growing up, the Bible was never a part of my religious education though I attended parochial school. As a teenager, I left my faith, but when I was in my fifties, new friends invited me to a religious study. I went with my skepticism and criticism dialed to “high.” I soon discovered what I didn’t know could fill a book, and that book was the Bible.

Though it began as an intellectual exercise, studying the Bible, especially the Resurrection, proved to be deeply transforming. In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Little by little, the magnitude seeped into my understanding. He is that powerful and wants me? God exists in time and space that cannot be fathomed and he holds out a promise. He’ll make good on it because the Resurrection is proof to those of faith. Such words were an experience. It is a love that surpasses all understanding, a radical paradigm of hope. Somebody infinitely more capable is in charge. Whenever I find myself painted into a corner, I often say, “Well, if Jesus can rise from the dead, he can certainly help me with this pickle.” Colored eggs and spring flowers are symbols of starting anew.

Everywhere Christians celebrate the Resurrection and it’s a chance to marvel at God’s proven power to overcome the impossible, the finality of death. At Easter the spiritual shifting of burdens over to the Ultimate Miracle Worker is the freshest of new beginnings.